Welsh Government backs digital library platform with £900k
16/05/2024 A new digital platform improving access to library services is set to be rolled out across Wales after receiving a £900,000 boost from the Welsh Government. |
Government advisers urge overhaul of infrastructure funding
16/05/2024 Councils should be given more funding to play a greater role in developing infrastructure projects, according to Government advisers. |
Wales pushes back council tax reform
15/05/2024 Council tax reforms will not come into force until 2028, the Welsh Government has announced. |
Funding restrictions leave climate playing ‘second fiddle’
15/05/2024 The Government’s reliance on competitive funding pots is undermining the ability of local authorities to deliver on climate targets, a new report says. |
Third of councils fear being unable to meet Care Act duties
14/05/2024 Only around two thirds of local authorities are confident they will be able to meet all their legal duties under the Care Act next year, council chiefs warn. |
Scottish councils face £585m funding gap
14/05/2024 Council leaders across Scotland have called on Holyrood to find a ‘meaningful solution’ to the half a billion pound shortfall faced by local government. |
Council invests emergency £5m to tackle ‘potholes menace’
13/05/2024 Lancashire County Council has announced an emergency £5m to deal with the ‘potholes menace’ ruining the county’s roads. |
Selling the family silver
09/05/2024 Ryan Swift, research fellow at IPPR North, urges the next Government to stop the mass sell off of council assets. |
Government cash call for council housing firms
09/05/2024 Central Government should provide £750m funding to help local government establish housing firms in temporary accommodation hotspots, an expert has suggested. |
Watchdogs call for long-term funding for Start for Life
08/05/2024 A scheme to support new parents should be given a minimum level of long-term funding to enable councils to plan provision for longer periods, watchdogs say. |
Council forced to close school meal service
03/05/2024 Cheshire East Council has been forced to close a council-run school meal service due to ‘significant budget pressures’. |
Council debt up by £52bn since 2010
02/05/2024 Local government debt has increased by 78% since 2010 as councils attempted to make up for cuts to Government funding, new research has revealed. |
Call for powers to back up funeral director inspections
01/05/2024 Councils have said they ‘urgently’ need more powers and resources after being tasked with inspecting funeral directors. |
What really caused the council funding crisis?
30/04/2024 Max Mosley, NIESR, explores the origins of the local government funding crisis and warns the next government will have to act quickly to address it. |
Elderly forced to wait over six months for home adaptations
30/04/2024 Elderly and disabled people are being forced to wait over six months for the installation of home adaptations due to poor administration at the local level. |
Will local government pick up the tab for increased defence spending?
30/04/2024 Cllr Graham Chapman, SIGOMA, looks at what the PM’s announcement of an increase in defence spending means for local authorities. |
Schools in disrepair due to funding ‘failure’, union warns
29/04/2024 More than four-fifths of headteachers (83%) have said they do not have enough money to maintain their school buildings. |
Council rejects MP’s ‘inaccurate’ funding claim
26/04/2024 Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has accused Derbyshire County Council of leaving unspent millions of pounds for school spaces for children with special needs. |
Wirral assurance panel ‘no longer required’
19/04/2024 Wirral MBC’s Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) has officially stood down after declaring it was ‘no longer required’. |
How the government can support road improvements
16/04/2024 Jake Michael, RS Bonds, sets out a number of ways the Government can help local authorities improve the condition of the local road network. |
Defra withholds £6m of air quality funding
16/04/2024 Around £6m in funding promised to local authorities to help tackle air pollution will be withheld, a Defra spokesperson has confirmed. |
Councils face £332m youth homelessness shortfall
15/04/2024 Local authorities in England are facing a £332m annual shortfall in youth homelessness funding, new research has revealed. |
Schools face losing over £1bn, think tank warns
11/04/2024 A decline in the number of school-age children could lead to schools losing over £1bn in funding by 2030, education experts warn. |
Councils publish pothole battle plans
10/04/2024 Local authorities have published which pothole-stricken roads will benefit from the first tranche of an over £8bn package of reallocated HS2 funding. |
Seven heritage projects allocated nearly £15m
09/04/2024 Seven heritage projects across the UK have been allocated £14.8m by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to ‘reimagine and protect’ historic sites. |
IFS: £2.5bn Sure Start delivered ‘substantial benefits’
09/04/2024 Children eligible for free school meals who grew up near a Sure Start centre performed up to three grades better at GCSEs than those further away, IFS finds. |
Green Liverpool projects win European funding
08/04/2024 Greening projects designed to complement new active travel routes in Liverpool will be funded by a European climate grant worth almost £80,000. |
Scottish councils’ debt is one-and-a-half times funding
08/04/2024 The debt of councils in Scotland is more than one-and-a-half times the latest local government funding settlement, the Scottish Conservatives have found. |
Council responds to ‘Daventry Banksie’ pothole complaints
08/04/2024 West Northamptonshire Council has responded to an anti-pothole protester with a computer-generated image of a roadside sign laden with song titles. |
Museums and libraries receive £33m cash injection
26/03/2024 Nearly 70 museums and libraries across England are to receive £33m in the latest round of the Government's Cultural Investment Fund. |
Councils get £295m boost for food waste collections
26/03/2024 Councils in England will share up to £295m in funding to help them introduce weekly food waste collections, Recycling Minister Robbie Moore has announced. |
Scottish councils in tax U-turn
25/03/2024 Argyll and Bute and Inverclyde councils had both voted to raise tax in defiance of the Scottish Government's efforts to secure a nationwide freeze. |
Bristol SEND services get £54m bailout
25/03/2024 Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services in Bristol are to receive a nearly £54m bailout, the Government has confirmed. |
DfT hands councils £38m for road safety
22/03/2024 Ministers have announced £38.3m to improve the safety of 17 high risk local roads in England. |
EV charge point rollout gets £185m boost
21/03/2024 Forty-four local authorities are set to receive a share of £185m to help accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. |
Winners announced on £40m signals cash
21/03/2024 The Department for Transport has published the list of 80 councils sharing £40m to upgrade traffic signals. |
PAC: Government has ‘no roadmap’ for fixing social care
20/03/2024 The Government has ‘no roadmap’ for fixing the failing social care system and ‘nothing meaningful’ in place that might demonstrate progress, MPs warn. |
Only a third of councils have enough childcare places
19/03/2024 Only a third of English councils are reporting sufficient childcare for parents working full-time, a new survey has revealed. |
ALARM: Pothole-riddled roads need £16bn investment
19/03/2024 The condition of roads in England and Wales has continued to decline despite councils spending £143.5m filling in two million potholes this financial year. |
CCN: Two-thirds of council budgets spent on care
18/03/2024 Council chiefs have called for an ‘honest discussion’ about services as new research reveals local authorities spend two-thirds of their budgets on care. |
Adult social care receives £20m boost
15/03/2024 The struggling adult social care system is set to benefit from a £20m boost, the Government announced today. |
Adult social care requests hit record high
13/03/2024 The number of new requests for adult social care support have hit an unprecedented two million, a health and social care charity has revealed. |
The elephant in the budget
12/03/2024 The budget provided support to strengthen growth, but bolder action is required to tackle finances, says Amanda Kelly, local government lead at PA Consulting. |
Combined authority set to approve £45m transport scheme
12/03/2024 A multi-million-pound transport scheme is set to transform the centres of Harrogate, Selby and Skipton. |
Budget: West Midlands to get £15m culture funding boost
06/03/2024 West Midlands Combined Authority is to get a £15m boost in funding for culture, heritage and investment projects in the region, the chancellor has announced. |
Budget: Household Support Fund extended
06/03/2024 A scheme aimed at supporting the most vulnerable households will be extended for another six months, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in the Budget. |
Brum members approve £300m of cuts
06/03/2024 Councillors at Birmingham City Council have signed off on £300m of cuts over two years and dramatic council tax increases. |
Basic efficiency savings all ‘long gone’, Chancellor told
05/03/2024 No more 'basic efficiencies' left to make, leaders tell Chancellor in response to reports he will call for consultants and diversity schemes to be cut. |
Chancellor needs to show compassion to most vulnerable
05/03/2024 Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, leader, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, urges the Chancellor to renew the Household Support Fund. |
Councils in crisis: time to stop the cycle of decline
04/03/2024 Claire Ward, partner and local government sector specialist at Anthony Collins, discusses the state of local government finances ahead of the Spring Budget. |
Less than 20% of levelling up projects completed
04/03/2024 Fewer than a fifth of projects backed by the Government's £3.6bn Towns Fund were on track to be completed by the end of February, FOI requests have revealed. |
Council funding crisis ‘existential’
01/03/2024 Local government’s funding crisis threatens to derail ambitions to level up the north of England, it has been claimed. |
More areas get level four devolution powers
01/03/2024 West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the Liverpool city region will all receive level four devolved powers, local government secretary Michael Gove has announced. |
Majority of northern councils face ‘financial failure’ within five years
01/03/2024 More than half of councils in the north of England are at risk of ‘financial failure’ within the next five years, analysis has found. |
Councils set for £2.5bn in exceptional financial support
29/02/2024 The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has agreed to grant 19 local authorities ‘in principle’ capitalisation directions worth almost £2.5bn. |
£220m boost for homelessness services
28/02/2024 The Government has announced £220m for councils to prevent families from becoming homeless and provide support for people sleeping rough. |
Eastbourne BC to vote on declaring housing emergency
28/02/2024 Eastbourne BC, the local authority behind a recent Westminster summit on the temporary-accommodation crisis, will today vote on declaring a housing emergency. |
Twenty-four mental health hubs announced
28/02/2024 Twenty-four early support hubs are set to be rolled out in local communities across the country to provide mental health support for young people. |
Councils should be given more flexibility over fund, says LGA
27/02/2024 Councils should be given more flexibility over funding, a senior councillor has said in the aftermath of reallocated funding from HS2. |
Durham secures £6m to tackle homelessness
27/02/2024 Durham County Council has successfully secured over £6m in funding to tackle homelessness. |
£4.7bn local transport cash to support 'smaller cities and towns'
26/02/2024 Local authorities in the North and Midlands have been given a capital boost under a £4.7bn Local Transport Fund, and have a year to prepare plans. |
Stoke-on-Trent warns services may be ‘stripped to the bone’
26/02/2024 Stoke-on-Trent City Council has warned its budget plans rest on a bid to secure an extra £42.2m in Government funding. |
EXCLUSIVE: Councils offered second chance to claim housing cash
22/02/2024 Civil servants have issued a last-minute invitation for councils to claim cash from a fund that has suffered from poor take up by local authorities. |
Council chiefs call for review of Ukrainian refugee scheme
19/02/2024 Council leaders have called for an urgent review of funding for Ukrainian refugees as 9,000 have reported as homeless and more need longer-term support. |
Two thirds of councils expect to miss waste reform deadline
15/02/2024 Councils have urged Government to reconsider its ‘unrealistic’ waste reform deadline after research found authorities face shortfalls to fund the changes. |
Khan pledges £15m for domestic abuse services
14/02/2024 Projects that support survivors of domestic abuse in the capital will receive an extra £15m, the major of London has announced. |
Scottish council chiefs call for £45m uplift guarantee
12/02/2024 Leaders in Scotland have called for a guarantee the £45m Barnett consequentials from a £600m increase to the English finance settlement will be passed on. |
Drug-related deaths up by 80%
09/02/2024 Financial uncertainty is undermining local efforts to battle drug addiction, council chiefs warn as report finds drug-related deaths are up 80% over a decade. |
Nearly 120 RAAC-affected school buildings to be rebuilt
09/02/2024 Nearly 120 school buildings containing dangerous concrete will be rebuilt or refurbished, the Government has confirmed. |
Welsh government announces £25m for councils
07/02/2024 The Welsh government has announced an additional £25m to support cash-strapped local authorities in 2024-25. |
Medway requests emergency £14.6m loan
06/02/2024 Medway Council has asked the Government for an emergency loan of £14.6m to help the struggling local authority avoid effective bankruptcy. |
Dover issues s114 warning over funding withdrawal
05/02/2024 A council could be at risk of issuing a section 114 notice if it is left to shoulder the costs of port biosecurity checks. |
Gove sheds light on productivity plans
05/02/2024 Michael Gove has released further details of the Government's productivity plans, including a clampdown on consultants and diversity schemes. |
Household Support Fund doubt leaving councils ‘in limbo’
05/02/2024 Councils have urged the Government to commit to extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) at a time of ‘record demand’. |
£90m announced from shaved-back youth fund
02/02/2024 A further £90m in grant funding will be allocated to youth services from a scaled-back fund worth ‘over £300m’. |
Hants seeks to avoid cost risk on £125m scheme
02/02/2024 Hampshire County Council is facing a funding gap on the A326 North Waterside Improvements scheme, if cost increases go beyond a current estimate of £125m. |
Council to consider levelling up fund judicial review
30/01/2024 Durham County Council will consider seeking a judicial review into how the Government allocated levelling up funding after the authority spent £1.2m on failed bids. |
Council leaders demand right to set tax levels
26/01/2024 Local authority leaders in Scotland have renewed their fight to set their own council taxes – despite the pledge of a freeze by first minister Humza Yousaf. |
Havering warns of S114 after ‘minuscule’ funding boost
26/01/2024 Havering Council will be forced to declare effective bankruptcy ‘by the end of February’ if the Government fails to provide more funding, leader warns. |
Council leaders cautiously welcome £600m boost
24/01/2024 Council leaders have welcomed the announcement of a £500m boost to social care budgets but caution they still face ‘difficult decisions’. |
Councils set to receive £500m boost
24/01/2024 The Government is expected to announce an extra £500m in funding as part of the 2024-25 local government finance settlement. |
Homelessness costs could spell ‘end of local government’
24/01/2024 The increasing cost of homelessness could lead to more councils declaring effective bankruptcy and the ‘end of local government’, council leaders warn. |
Report calls for more devolution to boost creative industries
23/01/2024 The further devolution of powers and funding connected to culture will help tackle economic stagnation and will boost to local communities, study finds. |
Concern over waste reform costs
22/01/2024 Fears have been raised that more financial pressures could be heaped on councils as a result of waste reforms. |
Underfunding of planning teams barrier to growth
22/01/2024 Nine out of 10 SME home builders have warned that underfunded local authority planning departments are hindering the construction of new housing. |
Conservative MPs call for emergency funding for councils
22/01/2024 MPs representing county areas have called on the Government to provide emergency funding to cash-strapped councils to prevent further cuts to local services. |
Middlesbrough council leaders vote to apply for £15m bailout
18/01/2024 Council leaders at Middlesbrough Council have voted unanimously to apply for a £15m bailout from the Government to avoid effective bankruptcy. |
Cash-strapped councils struggling to reunite families
17/01/2024 Children in care are unable to reunite with their families due to the financial pressures local authorities are currently facing, survey of councils reveals. |
MPs criticise ‘glacial’ progress of levelling up projects
16/01/2024 Mandarins from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities faced the Public Accounts Committee. |
Care providers closing due to ‘perilous’ environment
16/01/2024 Social care services are facing a situation that is ‘more perilous than ever’ with 43% of providers closing services or handing back contracts, study reveals. |
Notts council seeks ‘exceptional financial support’
16/01/2024 Nottingham City Council has joined the list of local authorities who have requested ‘exceptional financial support’ from the Government. |
Combined authority approves £600,000 for athletics championship
15/01/2024 The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has approved an extra £600,000 to go towards the cost of hosting the 2026 European Athletics Championships (EAC). |
New £1.5m package to support school leaders launched
15/01/2024 The Government has announced a new £1.5m package to help support the mental health and wellbeing of school and college leaders. |
Thurrock avoids 10% council tax hike
12/01/2024 Cash-strapped Thurrock Council has pledged residents will not face a 10% council tax rise – but still needs to confirm how much extra they must pay. |
Councils lobby for extra support ahead of final finance settlement
12/01/2024 Councils have begun 2024 by urgently lobbying Whitehall over extra financial support amid widespread concern the provisional finance settlement falls far short of what’s needed. |
2024: an epochal year of change and transition
12/01/2024 Jonathan Werran, chief executive, Localis looks at what is coming down the tracks for local government in the year ahead. |
DWP fails to commit to continuing Household Support Fund
08/01/2024 The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has failed to commit to making the Household Support Fund (HSF) available to councils in 2024-25. |
Fears over digital switchover costs
08/01/2024 Councils face multi-million pound bills as a result of the digital switchover of the telephone system. |
Council finances ‘worsened’ since finance settlement
08/01/2024 The financial position of local authorities in urban areas has ‘worsened’ since the finance settlement last month, warns local government campaign group. |
Government launches Storm Henk flood fund
08/01/2024 Local authority areas that have been hit by flooding in the wake of Storm Henk are now able to apply for financial support. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.